Cardinal Theodore McCarrick defrocked by Catholic Church over vile sex crimes — including sexual come-ons in the confessional

On Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019 the Vatican announced Pope Francis defrocked former U.S. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick after Vatican officials found him guilty of soliciting for sex while hearing Confession. (Andrew Medichini / AP)

In the Catholic church hierarchy, he became Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. To the young men he sought for sex, he was “Uncle Ted.”

And now, defrocked after 61 years as a priest, the predatory cleric is simply Mr. McCarrick.

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McCarrick, who served in the New Jersey dioceses of Newark and Metuchen during his decades in a Roman collar, became the highest-ranking Catholic clergyman and the first bishop to be laicized — unable to say Mass or perform any sacraments, barred from wearing his vestments or using any religious titles.

Father Boniface Ramsey, who first raised red flags about the creepy McCarrick two decades ago, said the dismissal was a long time coming.

Father Boniface Ramsey, who first raised red flags about the creepy McCarrick two decades ago, said the dismissal was a long time coming. (Jesse Ward for New York Daily News)

“I’m happy, and I think it was right,” Ramsey told the Daily News after celebrating Saturday evening Mass at St. Joseph’s Church on the Upper East Side. “The next thing that will happen … is (identifying) everybody else who knew and didn’t do anything, which is almost as bad as what McCarrick himself did.”

The 88-year-old ex-archbishop of Washington, D.C., was found guilty by the Vatican of soliciting sex while listening to confession and sexual crimes against underage and adult victims. Pope Francis approved both the verdict and the penalty, preventing any appeal.

In a bald-faced bit of hypocrisy, McCarrick had served as the spokesman for American bishops back in 2002 when they announced a “zero tolerance” policy against pedophile priests.

Victim James Grein, whose family was friendly with McCarrick, came forward last summer to charge the priest began sexually abusing him at age 11 and continued for the next 20 years.

“There are no winners here,” said a statement from Grein, the first boy ever baptized by McCarrick. “With that said, today I am happy that the Pope believed me. McCarrick has haunted the church for the last 50 years.”

McCarrick's shameful departure is expected to create more pressure on Pope Francis to reveal what, if anything, he knew about the ousted cardinal’s sordid behavior. McCarrick’s inappropriate sexual assaults were apparently common knowledge among church officials.

An altar boy had accused McCarrick of groping him inside St. Patrick’s Cathedral during the 1970s. There were similar allegations from church seminarians, including some who accused the once-powerful prelate of forcing them to share a bed at a New Jersey shore house.

“My clients are happy that Theodore can no longer use the power and manipulations of the Catholic faith to gain access to children,” said attorney Patrick Noaker, who represented Grein and other abuse victims. “They pray that he will never sexually abuse another child.”

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The Vatican’s uncharacteristically blunt decree on McCarrick recounted his “solicitation in the sacrament of confession, and sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power.”

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) expressed their hopes for a criminal prosecution of McCarrick — and Grein has already met with Manhattan DA Cy Vance Jr. about his case.

“We hope every person who saw or suspected his crimes or misdeeds, or cover-ups by his peers and supervisors, does likewise,” said SNAP.

The ex-church big-wig’s civil lawyer Barry Coburn said McCarrick would not comment on his defrocking. The ex-cardinal will continue to live at a Kansas friary where the Pope sent him for a life of “prayer and penance” until a permanent residence is found.

But a statement from the Salina, Kansas, diocese made clear the change in the former high-flying priest’s status, referring to him only as “Mr. McCarrick.”